So, these last weeks of Lent, I have been walking us through the Seven Deadly Sins and the corresponding virtues that our God gives us in the fight to be holy. We’ve covered Pride, Sloth, Wrath, Gluttony and Greed. Now, we’ve come to Lust and the virtue of purity.
As you can imagine, I’m going to be a bit more subtle in many ways as we will have young ones in the congregation and I want to be sensitive to that. It is my fervent prayer that my words help us all to take the call to purity seriously and not get discouraged in our fight for it.
What I want to do is use this bulletin article now to provide you with resources that you may need in the struggle for purity.
For those who are struggling with an addiction to internet pornography, I have had people recommend two different apps for the iPhone: Victory and Fortify. I have had many people share with me that these apps have helped them tremendously in the this fight.
For those who haven’t yet looked into Natural Family Planning, I simply cannot endorse this enough. It is really important to look at as Catholics and there are a lot of resources out there.
So, if you type “Natural Family Planning” into the YouTube search, there is a wonderful video from Emerald Isle Marketing simply titled “Natural Family Planning (NFP)” toward the top of the return list. I thought it a very clear and helpful video to open our eyes to the beauty of this teaching of the Church. Beyond that, anything by Dr. Janet Smith is, in my opinion, fantastic, particularly her talk “Contraception, why not?” I know how different this must sound then anything we hear in our culture right now, but The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops have some great information on NFP as well. Go to: http://www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/marriage-and-family/natural-family-planning/ to learn more. You can learn a lot about NFP right without leaving your house…check out http://www.usccb.org/issues-andaction/marriage-and-family/natural-family-planning/nfpdistance-learning.cfm to find some great resources available over the internet.
I ask you as your pastor to please investigate NFP and give it a fair shot. It’s truly a gift to marriages and its never too late to bring this life giving practice into our marriages.
So, the rest of the discussion is one I hope I do well during the homily. Thank you for walking with me this Lent as we strive to fight the Seven Deadly Sins, embrace the Seven Virtues and become more holy in this glorious season!
God bless you all!
fjk
